Documenting the Landscape exhibit to open
COSHOCTON – Starting in late summer of 2012 Nashville, Tenn. artist Megan Lightell returned to her home county of Coshocton to document the landscape.
A year and some months later, Documenting the Landscapes, 11 views (13 oil paintings) opens at the Pomerene Center for the Arts, from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6. The public is welcome. Lightell’s paintings will be accompanied by recorded interviews with the farmers whose land and favorite views she painted. This is a beautiful exhibit looking at the Coshocton Landscape through the eyes of those who most shape it, farmers and landowners.
Like many interested in and concerned about the impact of natural gas and oil drilling expansion in Coshocton County, Lightell began to question what that expansion would mean to her home community and the land she has been so influenced by.
In conversation with Anne Cornell, artistic director and community studio artist at the Pomerene Center for the Arts, Lightell decided to focus her thinking through a documentation project. Eschewing the more conventional forms of documentation – video/film/photography – this project explores the landscape through a human filter of voice, story and sketches. Hours were spent visiting with farmers, driving over hills in pickup trucks to secret places that most people never see.
“For this project, I wanted to ask for another point of view; for the farmer’s favorite spot on the land, their favorite time of year, favorite time of day,” Lightell said. “I wanted to see the landscape through their eyes, and afterward for them to see it through mine.”
For anyone interested in the complex relationship humans have with the land – this is a simple, thoughtful, beautiful body of work.
The Pomerene Center for the Arts is located on the corner of Third and Mulberry streets in Coshocton. The center is free and open to the public from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or by appointment.
Lightell’s show, Documenting the Landscape, runs through Saturday, Dec. 28. For information, visit pomerenearts.org. The Pomerene Center works to keep life interesting through creativity and arts innovation.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
